| This was a 'quick notice' event in that the club only had
about 10 days to muster participants. If you recall from the Kars
for Kids car show, there was a picture of a yellow Ferrari owned by Bill
Dollahite of Dollahite Racing. Bill had asked one of our members if
it was possible to have some of the military vehicles present for the
opening ceremonies of an event he was promoting in Cedar Park over the
Memorial Day weekend. After a short discussion, it was agreed he
would give the club a presentation at the next club meeting. At the
meeting a few days later, Bill presented his proposal to the club for
providing vehicles at the event. A quick show of hands indicated we
would oblige.
After some details were worked out, those members who decided to attend
included myself and my M38A1, Jeff McD and his MB, John K and his MB and
Toby C with his MB. Barry F and fiancé Bianca also agreed to come.
Everyone met at the Cedar Park library on the back side of the race
course. After some mis-cues, we all made it to that location only to
find out there were really no facilities present and it wasn't in the
infield as proposed. After some discussion with Bill, we were moved
to the infield area of the spectator viewing area where we took up our
positions on a large burm.
There, we fielded questions about the vehicles and met some wonderful
Cedar Park Chamber of Commerce members. The COC members invited us
over for a free lunch and beverage around noon which was VERY welcome.
At noon, we all braved traffic at 183 and 1431 to drive to another
location for staging for the opening ceremony parade. A parachute
pair came in with the American flag. I carried "Elvis"
and another person who sang the National Anthem. Prior to the singing, the
four club vehicles drove one lap of the race course and all those present
got to see the vehicles up close. After a short set of
introductions, the anthem and drivers introductions, we cleared the track
and went back to our staging area where most of us had lunch.
After a short period of time, several of the club participants loaded
up and left. John and I stayed along with Scott's dad to watch
the racing action. These karts are capable of going from a dead stop
to 100mph and back to zero in SIX SECONDS. Most are powered with
either 80cc or 125cc Honda motorcycle engines delivering approximately 45
horsepower to a 180 pound kart. They race rain or shine (they even
have rain tires!)
After a terrific day of action, the final races were held and the
remaining members packed up and departed. The military vehicles
definitely drew a crowd therefore adding value to this fun event. |
